


Tiring

by Fire_Cooking



Series: Boxmore bot 'Human' AU [18]
Category: OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes
Genre: Alternate Universe - Human, Business, Gen, Small Talk, Trans Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-31
Updated: 2020-12-31
Packaged: 2021-03-11 01:27:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,466
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28446891
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Fire_Cooking/pseuds/Fire_Cooking
Summary: Ernesto conducts his yearly audit of the Board of Villians, but unforeseen tiredness prevents the meeting from going forwardsWhich also leaves him and Billiam to have to make small talk
Relationships: Cosma (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)/Vormulax (OK K.O.! Let's Be Heroes)
Series: Boxmore bot 'Human' AU [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1486763
Kudos: 4





	Tiring

**Author's Note:**

> I'm a filthy Billiam Milliam apologist, I'm sorry everyone/lh

Cosma yawned as she listened to the audit. She felt her eyes going blurry.

She felt a cosmic nudge to stay away.

She looked at Vormulax, who was glancing at her. Cosma yawned again, rubbing her face.

She sat up, trying to listen the best she could.

She looked ahead and tried to keep her eyes open and herself alert, but everything felt blurry and sounds started too oooooooooo sdlfkkkksdf-

“Yea-eurp!” Cosma jolted awake with another nudge from Vormulax.

“Is everything alright?” 

“Oh, uh.” Cosma stood suddenly. “It’s fine Ernesto! I just.” Cosma looked at her bone dry cup of coffee. “All your youthful energy is just wearing me out, let me get another cup of coffee.” Cosma picked up her cup and booked it out of the room. 

Ernesto looked at the coffee set up by the wall.

“Is Mrs Cosma okay?” he asked, visibly confused.

“Let me handle this.” And Vormulax floated out of the room through the wall.

Ernesto looked at the floor and messed with the papers in his hands.

“Uh, I guess we’ll be taking a break,” Billiam said bluntly. “Uh… how’s school going?”

Ernesto pressed his mouth closed and puffed out his cheeks a bit. “I, uh, graduated.”

“Oh, congratulations!” 

“Four years ago, you were at my graduation party,” Ernesto added.

“Oh. Well, still a good job.” Billiam laughed uncomfortably. “Now that I’m remembering, ol’ brains are a little slow sometimes. You had a scholarship to-”

“I rejected my offers to work for my father and help with the kids,” Ernesto said bluntly.

“Ah….” Billiam gulped.

“Well Cosma and Vormulax should be back, eventually, why don’t you sit a minute. You’ve been talking for an hour solid.”

Ernesto looked at Billiam quietly. “Actually two and a half hours.”

“Oh, we have two and a half hours left?” Billiam asked.

“No, I've been giving the yearly audit for two and a half hours. I still have a few more thousands of pages left.” Ernesto said. “I’ve got at least 6 more hours of presentation.”

“Oh well then we better not keep you from your work at Boxmore more, you can keep talking I can fill Cosma and Vormulax in.”

“I’d rather stay on your clock,” Ernesto muttered. “Not that I want to run up your bill sorry that sounded bad I’ll discount-”

“Oh, how much are you charging?” Billiam asked.

“Uh… I normally charge time and a half to my Boxmore pay rate for auditing and tax consultation. But Cosma pays me double my Boxmore pay.” Ernesto rubbed the back of his neck.

“Oh, I thought you were on salary?”

Ernesto looked at Billiam. “No, I’m hourly.”

“Oh, then we must be bleeding money into your services.” Billiam smiled. “What are you going at, 60-70 an hour for us?”

Ernesto pressed his mouth back together, his fangs poking out as he stared at Billiam.

“I make 16 technos and hour h-”

“Boxman only pays you 16 technos an hour!” Billiam stood in surprise.

“No, you are paying me 16 technos an hour-”

“YOU MAKE 8 TECHNOS AN HOUR?! HOW DO YOU LIVE ON THAT!?” Billiam yelled.

“To be fair I live rent-free and he pays for my insurance and meals,” Ernesto said quickly.

“To be fAIR?” Billiam slammed his hands on the table, then pointed at Ernesto. “You, young man, are a fully certified tax consultant and financial auditor! You should be making your worth on your certificates! You are the only paid employee of Boxmore you should be swimming in cash, regardless of benefits! So what he pays for your apartment and health insurance and gives you a meal card-”

“No I live at home-”

Billiam went completely a gasp. “You live at home…?!”

“Yeah, I help look after the kids.”

“So you’re on the clock 24/7? That’s still barely a living wage-”

“No I don’t get paid to look after the kids, I just enjoy it and it’s family, ya’ know.”

“YOU SHOULD BE MAKING 100 TECHNOS AN HOUR TO DEAL WITH MY LITTLE BRAT, WHERE IS MY CHILD SUPPORT GOING!?”

“How much do you pay in child support!??” Ernesto yelled back.

“I give Boxy an unlimited credit card for Shannon!”

“THE CREDIT CARD HE GIVE HER WAS-”

“HE LET HER HAVE AN UNLIMITED CARD?”

“WHY WOULD HE DO THAT?”

“SHE’S 6-11 SHE’S GOING TO GET SCAMMED.”

“Shannon is teen actu-”

“THAT’S WORSE.” Billiam stepped away from the table. “I gave him an unlimited credit card so that he could provide basic amenities to all the kids, I know it’s challenging to take care of you loud little fuckers, and of course spoil Shannon but he just handed her the card! To think he just gave her the card!”

“It’s unreasonable to assume dad would spend your child support for Shannon on all of us. He’s very morally headstrong that-”

“I told him too!” Billiam huffed. “I’ve dealt with you kids! It’s not just a courtesy! He put up with a lot he was supposed to get babysitters-”

“We never had babysitters besides the occasional weekend at our grandparents, or me when I was old enough,” Ernesto interjected.

“YOu-” Billiam took a deep breath. “Well after you learned to control the thing, right?”

“What thing?” Ernesto said, puzzled.

“The thingy.” Billiam gestured a bit. “With the crying and the not breathing.” 

“My anxiety attacks?” 

“No the other thing.”

“My panic attacks?”

“No-”

“My meltdowns?”

“No, the dangerous ones!”

“My OCD compul-”

“No!” Billiam knocked his head a bit. “You didn’t breathe so your face turned a weird colour, I know what humans not breathing looks like! The thing with the flames and lightning and the screaming in pain!” He pointed at Ernesto.

“That’s… recent.” Ernesto rubbed his sleeve a bit.

“No you used to do it all the time as a kid,” Billiam said firmly.

“I didn’t? They started when I was well into my teens.” Ernesto looked at the floor.

“No! When you were a little one, a 4-6-year-old yet, every time you got freaked out beyond a little scare you’d do the thing.”

“I-”

“And if Raymond cried or anything you’d do it even worse! Boxy always had to calm you down and it always wore him out!”

Ernesto glanced at Billiam a bit before looking back at the floor. “I didn’t know I did that as a kid.”

“Come to think of it you always wore him out.” Billiam got into a thinking pose.

“Well, I was the first, of course, I was hard to deal with,” Ernesto mumbled.

“No, no you were quite pleasant as a kid,” Billiam said. “You just had a way of grating on him I guess.”

“I do that with everyone,” Ernesto said quietly.

Billiam looked at Ernesto, puzzled. “We’ve been having a screaming match for like 30 seconds and you’re not making me tired or annoyed.” Billiam walked around the table. “Maybe it’s your voice.”

“Gee, thanks.” Ernesto huffed. “But, actually no, my voice changed a lot when I was on T. So it wouldn’t be a bad tone of voice.”

“And you tend to be very mellow, even at parties and events, so it’s not temperament.” Billiam leaned onto the projector at the end of the table.

“Alright, sorry about that Ernesto.” Cosma and Vormulax walked in and saw Ernesto and Billiam. “You two have a good chat?”

“Oh just catching up.” Billiam puffed. “Did you know he graduated from middle school?” 

“Highschool.” Ernesto coughed under his breath.

“Oh, silly me, haha.” Billiam lightly patted Ernesto's arm, the second his hand touched Ernesto the projector under his elbow suddenly sparked and exploded.

Ernesto shrieked. “I still have slides I- I’m sorry-”

“Geeze didn’t know that the projector was going out.” Cosma huffed. “Well, we’ll have to rent Ernesto again tomorrow after I get a new one.”

“No I can provide services free this is-”

“No.” Billian stated. He wrapped an arm around Ernesto, he started pulling him out of the room. “We need to work out a proper subsidy to your services to the Board of Villains and your management in Voxmore inc. We’ll need to make sure that your compensation lines up with your certifications and expertise as so not to lose such a valuable asset-” Billian pulled Ernesto fully out of the room and down the hallway.

Cosma and Vormulax looked at each other.

“Did we miss something?” Cosma asked.

“I think so. We should order dinner for Billy and Nest.” Vormulax piped. “It’s good Billy is getting along with other people.”

“Finally, maybe he’ll get along with Shannon soon,” Cosma said with a sigh. “He isn’t always a lost cause.”

“He’s your lost cause,” Vormulax stated, floating out of the room.

“He’s our lost cause, Vorm.” Cosma said following her. “That’s why we kept him.”


End file.
